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Famed Whittier High School dropout for his contributions to film, Rockie Juarez, is an utter video store nut and considers himself a very lucky person. Although there’s a theatre of incredible movies, it is probably impossible to get through all of them at once. That is precisely why he has the wonderful Stephanie Crawford who gives him incredibly niche, potentially dangerous recommendations he’s been too lazy to get into. So the question is, with these new recommendations, will my newfound passion for cinema grow stronger or will it completely demolish my brain to the point it starts bursting out of my nose? Tag along as these two weirdos attempt to chop up and explain every single suggestion without ripping each other’s faces off.
This week Stephanie pointed out to Rockie the 1969 exploitation racing movie Pit Stop written and directed by Jack Hill, with Brian Donlevy, Richard Davalos, Ellen Burstyn and Sid Haig as actors.
I would argue that Pit Stop is perhaps the most astonishing feature I have ever watched at such a young age. I say this unreservedly and certainly without any qualification. The film is very sweaty and virile and is more than filled with fascinating black-and-white cinematography. Coming from the Roger Corman universe, Jack Hill fully embraced this film and boy did he fully embrace it. My favourite part is that Hill does not care about racing whatsoever. Very much like Scorsese’s indifference towards sports, races have too much focus; the challenge is how to get far away from sports, and the character becomes the central point.
Grant Willard, played by renowned actor Brian Donlevy, is the ultimate ‘win at all costs’ type of guy who now manages newly emerging racers. The race in which he wants his ‘teammates’ to compete in is known as “The Figure Eight”, and this one is particularly vicious. The track is literally a figure eight, so crashes are guaranteed and transforms the race into a demolition derby bloodbath.
Grant gives Rick Bowman a call (Richard Davalos) after seeing an illegal street race where he is wowed by his skills of Rick and offers him fame so long as he survives and wins the race. This is where the story goes in a captivating direction asking how far someone would go in the name of sports and how much is one willing to sacrifice to win.
Never a dull moment describes Pit Stop pretty well. The film is always drifting on something other than the racing sections. FYI, these racing scenes were so brilliant that I thought Hill was using stock video for many of them, but I was wrong. They filmed IT ALL. This makes the movie a masterpiece of editing and rear projection wizardry. The head of the story also has two very young acting titans in their early starts such as Sid Haig and Ellen Burstyn, who both appear and perform beautifully. Ellen’s eyes exhibited such wisdom and motherly compassion even then, it was a pleasure to watch. Now with Sid Haig: where to even start?! As the much-crazed Hawk Sidney, the man who is mad enough to compete in these insane competitions, steals this movie. A man angry enough to brutally smash another man’s vehicle with a sledgehammer for what feels like an eternity.
Coming from a person who dislikes cars, me shouting at the gearheads, “I like Pit Stop!” will come as a shock. Every single aspect of it was a total winner for me and I have Jack Hill Blaxploitation fans to thank for everything that was done right.
Stephanie Crawford I too am thankful, but a big fan of Jack Hill from what I do understand. I was stunned as to how this movie managed to escape my attention for so long. I’m aware of the raw, powerful style he is known for, but this was on a different level and combined with sinew, this was striking. The elegant and masterful look of the film is what surprised me. It’s comical because cinematographer Austin McKinney managed to achieve an outstanding look, however, he also has had his hands on the Mystery Science 3000 classic The Skydivers, which did have that amateurish vibe. Actually, a majority of his projects have that feeling. The magic of Pit Stop greatly inspired me. The aesthetics of the movie really capture a lot of what my favorite Hills, Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told does.
Haig and Washburn were favourites, and are the most obvious example of casting elegance. They both manage to avoid feeling as exploitative as they otherwise might have thanks in big part to how loving the camera treats both films. A focus on the fringe group is essential. And lastly, everything about this movie just screams cool, and that includes the music of The Daily Flash. The slow swag rag theme song does it for me. Amazing Rockie, you are a music nerd, what do you have to say about this?
RJ: I loved it! They kept going back to boisterous parties from where the smoke hung heavy and alcohol filled the air. The music was also not the same all throughout, it ranged from rock and go-go dancing division. That was accentuated by the heat of the excited nights and was a perfect capture of that mute period. These parties also gave the real feel of parties. People came over to get wasted and we do have to take a few shots, and yeah lines don’t hurt either.
No one will deny that the entire film gave off great vibes and the hang-out scenes were no different. The reason I enjoy Pit Stop is that it is, foremost, not a movie about racing. It sets out to address the issues of losing one’s self in a sport and the harm caused by it. Fortunately, this is the reality because I am not a car enthusiast in the slightest, and I would have been absolutely bored. Strangely, I think I would compare it to Two-Lane Blacktop for the sheer fact that it is a movie that, while attempting to be about cars, goes much deeper than that, thanks to Monte Hellman and the way he relates to his characters. What about you, Steph? I would love to hear about other vehicle-related movies that you could use to double-bill it.
Honestly, car movies are a gap for me since I cannot watch it just for the sake of a motor vehicle orgy. For any movie, even for cars, that is not a fascinating subject for me by itself, so it has to be a blockbuster hit regardless. That’s Pit Stop. Regardless of whether chrome or wheels is what you’re in the mood for, it is a taut, elegant, and gentle depiction of some really fascinating people at a juncture.
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